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O’RIELLY NOMINATED FOR FCC; WHAT’S NEXT? — The White House’s pick to replace former commissioner Robert McDowell finally landed Thursday evening, and Mike O’Rielly’s nomination sets the stage for tackling some lingering questions, Brooks Boliek reports: “It will take a while for the agency to go from slow to full speed ahead. ‘We’re getting to the point where we need to make some of the tough decisions,’ confided one commission official. ‘People are afraid to do something without a permanent chairman, because many of those decisions seem like they should be up to him.’

“Most recently, O’Rielly was a lead GOP staff negotiator in the conference committee that settled details over the broadcast incentive auction....But some are more critical of his style, with one industry executive describing him as ‘prickly’...If confirmed, O’Rielly will give current GOP Commissioner Ajit Pai some company on the right side of the dais....Whether O’Rielly stakes out hardline conservative ground or moves to the center on some issues is a key question for Wheeler.” More, for Pros: http://politico.pro/15hPBEG

--EARLY REAX: GOP-ERS SING HIS PRAISES: From Sen. John Cornyn, who O’Rielly most recently worked for: “Mike’s a talented and valued member of my staff, and he will be a great addition to the Commission.” Pai said O’Rielly’s “expertise, experience, and fresh perspective will be a tremendous asset to the Commission as we confront the many challenging issues on our agenda.” And the new nominee is a “champion of the free market,” says Senate Commerce ranking member John Thune, who called for O’Rielly’s consideration to come quickly. “In recent conversations, he has impressed me with his understanding of the many issues on the communications horizon and the importance of the Commission’s work when it comes to the unique communications challenges in rural states like South Dakota,” Thune said. Panel chairman Jay Rockefeller didn’t weigh in Thursday evening.

FIRST LOOK I: LOFGREN FISA TRANSPARENCY BILL OUT TODAY — Silicon Valley Rep. Zoe Lofgren is set to unveil a measure today that would allow Internet and telecom firms to report the number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders and National Security Letters they receive and how many users they pertain to. That’s a desire that tech companies have been clamoring for over the last two months — something Google and Microsoft have pursued legal proceedings on — so it’s no surprise to see such an endgame put into legislative form. Sen. Al Franken introduced a similar bill Thursday, but we’re told the Lofgren option differs a bit in that it would authorize companies to disclose surveillance requests (as frequently as every three months) in a range of 100s (between 300 and 400, for example.) Under Franken’s measure, companies are allowed to share exact numbers of surveillance orders received, as long as that number is greater than 500, his office said. In addition, Lofgren wouldn’t install mandatory reporting requirements for the government, as Franken would.

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where you all suck for not picking up on our own Eagles reference yesterday, or at least not emailing us about it. We’ll forgive you, as long as you keep the tech tips and chatter coming over the August recess. Hit us up at abyers@politico.com and @byersalex, and catch the rest of the team’s contact info after speed read.

HOUSE COMMERCE KICKS OFF ONLINE PRIVACY WORK — Your MT-er, with the story on House lawmakers’ move to start tackling perhaps its thorniest subject: “Rep. Lee Terry [unveiled] the creation of a bipartisan task force on the issue, which will feature full committee vice chair Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Vermont Rep. Peter Welch as leaders...The group will not be tasked with producing any legislation, but it will act as the guiding light for the subcommittee’s privacy work...Terry, who didn’t elaborate on what issues he thinks the group should look at, said the task force has the ‘ultimate flexibility’ and should start from scratch...And the extent to which lawmakers have their work cut out for them — on an issue that many say has little chance of seeing legislation make it through Congress — isn’t lost on him.” More, for Pros: http://politico.pro/19AfjGd

SCOOP: TECHAMERICA’S RICHARDS TO SAP AMERICA — Kevin Richards, the director of federal government affairs over at TechAmerica, is heading to business management software firm SAP America to serve as the company’s director of congressional affairs. Besides his stint at TechAmerica, Richards comes by way of Symantec and the office of Sen. Ted Kennedy — he also served on the Obama and Kerry presidential campaigns. “SAP’s Public Policy team is very pleased that we were able to recruit a high-caliber talent like Kevin Richards to join our ranks,” said SAP VP Robert Cresanti. “Kevin’s intellect, integrity and expertise make us proud to welcome him as an outstanding addition to our team.” Richards, for his part, called his work with TechAmerica an “honor and a privilege” and said he’s humbled by the move to SAP.

--OTHER STAFFING MOVES: If you missed it earlier this week, Grace Koh has joined the House telecom subcommittee this month as counsel — she comes by way of Cox Enterprises’ policy shop. And on the media side, Andy Duberstein is now handling press for Rep. Greg Walden’s subpanel. He’s been with E&C since 2011, and previously worked for Delaware Rep. Mike Castle.

SENATE NAMES SEPULVEDA AMBASSADOR — Former John Kerry tech aide and current Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Danny Sepulveda was officially bestowed the title of ambassador as part of the Senate’s pre-recess confirmations Thursday evening. He was nominated in May, the same month that the former Commerce panel senior adviser repped the U.S. at the World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum. (He also holds the title of U. S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy.)

FIRST LOOK II: ACT 4 APPS TO UNDERTAKE NTIA APP CODE TESTING — ACT 4 Apps, the app privacy initiative spearheaded by the Association for Competitive Technology, is preparing for “rigorous usability and consumer testing,” of the draft code of conduct coming out of the NTIA’s mobile app discussions, the group is announcing today. The focus of the testing will be on providing answers to open questions that the group didn’t complete, and make sure that consumers can easily digest the code’s transparency notices. “We and our partners are committing resources to put it in front of consumers and developers to ensure it works for them so that we can strongly endorse this code with our community going forward,” ACT President Jonathan Zuck said in a release. Testing is the clear next step for mobile industry players and privacy groups, many of which say they’ll know whether they can endorse the code’s notice system once they see it in action. The ACT 4 Apps group includes Apple, BlackBerry and Facebook, and data privacy management company TRUSTe is also backing the initiative’s plans.

FIRST LOOK III: TELECOM FIRMS, GROUPS WRITE WYDEN & THUNE OVER TAX BILL — A measure from Sens. Ron Wyden and John Thune that would permanently extend a ban on Internet access taxes got cheers from wide swaths of the telecom community Thursday, and a coalition is underscoring its support for the idea in a letter this morning. The group — featuring groups like AT&T, Time Warner, Amazon, and T-Mobile — warns of state and local governments imposing taxes on web access in the search for more revenue. “Introduction of this bill is a critical step to ensure that consumers continue to be protected from having their Internet access burdened by new state and local taxes and their purchases over the Internet burdened by multiple and discriminatory taxes,” the groups write. The pair of lawmakers is clearly aware of the kind of favor and political resources that can come with this kind of legislation — just last week, they re-introduced a bill eliminating duplicate taxes on digital goods and services like music downloads or cloud computing. Read the coalition’s letter here: http://bit.ly/136AUim

TODAY: TECH REPS, HILL STAFF GATHER TO TALK DIGITAL SHOP — Congressional staff and a few members are gathering this morning for the final day of Connected Congress, a series of tech workshops designed to get Hill offices set for optimal citizen engagement. Panels have been underway over the last two days, and Friday’s will focus (among other topics) on building constituent relationships and the various tech tools available to each office. Reps. Darrell Issa and Eric Swalwell will speak, as will reps from Facebook and Twitter and National Republican Senatorial Committee digital guru Matt Lira, according to a session overview. Things start at 8:30 in the CVC: http://bit.ly/136wHuW

SPEED READ

LAW ENFORCEMENT USING HACKER TRICKS TO TARGET SUSPECTS: Think spyware sent to computers via email and links, the Wall Street Journal reports: http://on.wsj.com/1cuz6X9

EMPLOYER TIP SAID TO HAVE PROMPTED RAID, NOT SURVEILLANCE: Suffolk County police say they visited a writer’s home this week after being tipped off by a former employer to what they said were suspicious Google searches, WaPo reports: http://wapo.st/136GiSC

DEMOCRATIC DIVIDE ON FISA COULD BE OBAMA PROBLEM: The left-wing of the civil liberties crowd is looking for a leader, WaPo reports: http://wapo.st/1cuz7dT

EDGAR: TRANSPARENCY MUST CONTINUE: The president needs to take back control from leakers and drive the transparency himself, Timothy Edgar writes: http://on.wsj.com/1cuzuFl

CORRECTION: A previous version of Morning Tech misstated the reporting rules of Sen. Al Franken’s FISA transparency bill. Companies will be allowed to share exact numbers of surveillance orders received, if that number is greater than 500.